I had to restart my observation hive this spring, and I wanted to transfer the bees from a package into the hive with as few losses as possible. I removed the can of sugar syrup, ran tubing from the package to the observation hive, put the queen cage in the bottom of the hive, and waited. For the first half-hour or so, few bees made the journey through the tube, but shortly after that, they went marching in:Attachment 5965

Last year I tried the same method, but didn't remove the sugar can from the package first, and it took two days for the bees to move!